The Passionists of Holy Cross Province

The Love that Compels

People Profile

Ken Schmitt

Ken Schmitt
Head of Nashville’s Community of Passionist Partners

Ken Schmitt moves people.

In the corporate world, he oversees relocation projects for United Van Lines, so getting people and companies from point A to point B is his specialty.  He’d never say it himself, but it’s clear that he is extremely good at his job…

This isn’t the only way he moves people, however.  Ken Schmitt is a person of incredible dynamism who cares deeply about the Passionists and their ministries, and each day he translates that energy into service towards others.   His level of enthusiasm and commitment can’t help but invigorate others.

“In my mind and heart I have always wanted to be involved with the Passionist Community.  So many Passionists have influenced my life.  I feel as if I have been part of the Passionist Community since the day I was baptized.”

Throughout the years Ken has been a faithful contributor to the Passionists both in time and treasure. He was the force behind the founding of the Community of Passionist Partners in Nashville. Some years ago Ken had a kind of epiphany at a Passionist Mass that was particularly moving.  “I realized that I needed to bring the Passionist charism to people in Nashville, and that was the beginning of our chapter of the Community of Passionist Partners.”

The CPPs are a group of vowed religious and lay people who enter into a spiritual covenant to study and promote the charism of Passionist founder, St. Paul of the Cross.

Today, the Nashville CPPs are an especially vibrant and diverse group.  In addition to their ongoing spiritual formation, they are actively involved in several outreach efforts.  They continue to provide support for troops in the 101st Airborne Division currently serving in Iraq, and they have met with state leaders urging them to advocate for additional monies to improve education, health care, nutrition and agriculture for the very neediest people in developing countries.

Reaching out to those who are suffering is at the core of the Passionist charism.  Ken Schmitt has made a personal commitment to share this charism, and would gladly move heaven and earth to do so.  Before heading off to his next project, he adds, “We need to spread God’s love wherever we go, to whomever we meet.”  And knowing Ken, that’s a promise he’ll keep.

Deacon Manuel Valencia

“My whole spirituality, everything, my studying for the diaconate, everything for me is framed by the Passionist charism.  There is no other way for me to see my spiritual growth or my prayer life or even the diaconate other than through this prism of the Passionist charism.”

Sharing Our Stories

So what is it about us that still connects you to us as Passionists? 

There was time when I thought that being a Passionist meant having to wear the habit and the sign and follow the rule book —and that unless one did all of these things, one was not truly a Passionist. I thought being a Passionist meant living simply—to get up in the morning after sleeping in a very simple cell, on a wooden bed, on an old army surplus mattress. Over the years I have come to the realization that all of that is not the essence of being a Passionist. I am still understanding as I get older what the essence of being a Passionist is.

For me, certainly, the signature logo of the Passionists is their sign and after that, the gift the Passionists have that continues to attract me is, proclaiming Christ crucified. My attraction to Passionists is still in the whole realm of retreats, of silence, and the contemplative aspect of it. Dying to oneself in that silence and trying to understand who Christ crucified is, brings about the centrality of the cross in my life. Christ crucified is more easily heard here, so that I can go back into a very noisy, busy, buzzing world to proclaim Christ crucified by how I live.

The Passionists have changed along the way, and I think that’s important. It’s certainly the missions and the retreats that keep me connected. There is also embracing the suffering of the world more, embracing the poor, the homeless, which makes the Passion more relevant. Passionists’ understanding of Christ’s suffering in the world today is constantly evolving, moving them to understand more deeply and live the Passionist life in a radical way. I can see this, and I can take part of this understanding with me wherever I go. Others like me, who learn from the Passionists, gain a deeper understanding of the Passion and make it their own. That is what is really important to the Passionists.

How has the Passionist charism affected the way you pray or the development of your prayer?

One of the dimensions that has become more and more meaningful to me has been silence, has been making personal, silent retreats. I have come to the Retreat Center for a week at a time or more, to be alone and be absolutely in silence, to fast and to learn how to pray better. Learning how to pray better for me has meant using fewer words, to the point now that I use no words, simply wordless prayer — simply sitting in centering prayer and being utterly in silence. There are moments when it can be terrifying. Silence can be thunderous.

The words of Paul the Apostle, “I am crucified with Christ, it’s no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me” were once lovely, poetic lines. Now when I sit in silent prayer, in contemplative prayer, there is part of me, the ego, that is dying, and I’ve learned what those words mean now. The ego is crucified with Christ, it’s no longer the ego that lives, but it is Christ who lives in me and that has come through just hours and hours of being in silence and learning how to pray in silence, with Paul of the Cross, in contemplative prayer, solitary prayer. From that, I am learning how to live in community with my Passionist partners, to proclaim Christ crucified.

 

Irene Horst

“The Passion of our Lord is in all of our lives. Everything we do, in some way, can be related to the Passion. Trying to understand Christ’s Passion in my life, knowing that the Lord is with me at all times, makes me a better human being.”

Sharing Our Stories

You presently are a member of the Community of Passionists Partners? And how did that come to be?

Father Sebastian (MacDonald) was my mentor here. It is important to me that I am able to work with Passionists. My association with Passionists enhances my own spirituality. I need to work on my own spiritual growth—my spiritual life. I realized that joining the Community of Passionist Partners is one way to do this. I was very happy to know about it.

How has your relationship with other members of the Community of Passionists Partners meant to you? What is the “Community” aspect for you?

People are not meant to live alone. We look for others who have things in common with us. The support and understanding I get from the people in our community of partners is a very important part of my life. We have gotten to know each other pretty well, and it is wonderful!

Vowed Passionists devote their lives to understanding and living the reality of the Lord’s Passion, to living lives of service to many people. My spiritual life is involved with the Passionists, because Passionist spirituality brings out the reality of the Lord’s Passion in my daily life. Your life, your ministry, is an example of how I’d like to live.